Electric reversing-switch.



BLEOTBIU BEVEBSING SWITCH.

APPLICATION YILED HOV. 5, 1908. Patented Oct' 18 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

monili-r J. P. lCAVANAGH.l

ELEGTRIG REVERSING SWITCH.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 5, 1 908.

972,999. Patented Oct. 18, 1910 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Fig. 9;

J oHN F. CAvANAH.

19%, l, -1158,16." 19M/M42?? WH UNITED FATEN T OFFICE.

JOHN F. CAVANAGH,. OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR OF THREE-FOURTHS TO LINDSLEY AND ALLEN ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND,

A CORPORATION OF RHODE ISLAND.

ELECTRIC REVERSINGr-SWITCH.

Specification of yLetters Patent. Application filed November 5, 1908.

Patented Oct. 18, 1.910. serial No. 461,115.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jer-IN F. CAvANAci-i, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 'Electric Reversing -.Switches, of which thev following i-s a specification, reference beinghad therein to the accompanying drawings.

This inventicn relates to a reversing switch for spark coils, and has for its object to provide sii'npi and effec-tive means whereby the direction of travel of the current through the contact points of the vibrator coils may be changed each t-ime the connection is made after having been broken.

In practice the Contact points on vibrator coils are usually made of platinum, iridium, or other metal adapted to resist oxidization and fusing. As the current passes through the coil from one point to the other, as said points are Vrapidly vibrated, small particles of the metal leave the point of the positive pole, which point soon becomes pitted or worn away, said 'particles being deposited on the point of the negative pole, which becomes correspondingly built up or elongated. The poi-nts thus work out of adju-st ment and as they become roughened and deteriorated the coil loses its eectiveness or eiiiciency, in order to restore which new points haveto be set, or' the old ones stoned, evened up or dressed and the vibrator adjusted or re-set. Heretofore in order to equalize the eifect of the .current .on both of the points, the direction of said current is sometimeschanged by reversi-,ng the battery connections, but in the case of operating automobiles, motor boats,- and the like, where the majority of these devices are used, this is seldom resorted to as -the cause and effect is not generally -understoodby the operators. In order to obviate this serious difficulty' and provide simple, practical and effective means whereby the current may be reversed each time the connection is made after having :been broken, I have provided a switch which automatically changes the connect-ions to reverse the direction of the current, each-time the same is operated. I have also provided a simplified form of this sition.

device which is in the form of a removable plug whereby the direction of the current is reversed by a proper positioning of said plug in its socket.

With these objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the' accompanying drawings: Figure lis a plan view showing the arrangement of mechanism whereby the direction of the current is automatically changed each time a new connection is madeby a movement of the switch into the operative or contact po- Fig. 2- is a front detail view of the switch lever with the mechanism removed therefrom. Fig. 3- is a side elevation of said switch lever showing the rotary ratchet disk which carries the contact points mounted on said lever. Fig. 4- is a plan view of the rotary ratchet disk in detail. Fig. 5- is an enlarged section. of said-disk on line 5 5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6- is an enlarged section on line 6 -6 of Fig. 4. Fig. 7* is a diagrammatic view showing the wiring .and the direction of travel of the current when the rotary disk is in the position indicated in Fig. '25. Fig. 8- is` a diagrammatic View illustrating the travel of the current when the disk is in the position illustrated in Fig. 6, the travel of the cnrrent through the carbureter and spark coil being in the opposite direction to that illustrated in Fig. 7. Fig. 9- is a pers. ective view of spark coil switch casing s owing the switch plug in one Aposition in the easing. Fig. 1'0- is a transverse sectional view showing the switch plug in position in the casing. F'o. llis a section through the switch casing with the top remo-ved showing the terminals which are adapted 'l to be bridged by .means of plates on the switch plug. Fig. 12- illustrates the plug having transversely arranged bridge-plates. Fig. 13- represents the opposite side of the plug where the bridge plates run lengthwise thereof. Fig. 14%- is an edge view of said lug. Fig. l5- is a transverse section on 'ine 15-15 of Fig. 14. Fig. 16- is a detail in perspective illustrating the construction ofthe bridge pla-tes. Flg. 17* is a diagrainmatic view illustrating the direction of current through the interrupter and coil when the plug is placed in position, having its transverse plates bridging the terminals. Fig. 18- is a diagrammatic view illustrating the wiring of the device showing the travel. of the current in the reverse direction through the coil and interrupter when the plug is placed in position, with its lengthwise bridge plates in contact with the terminals.

It is found in practice in the use of spark coils advantageous to employ two sources of current such as a battery and a magneto, or two separate sets of batteries, one for reserve to be used in case of emergency, and the switch in question is adapted to readily make connection with either of said sources as desired.

In carrying out my invention 1 designates the circular switch casing which may be made of any suitable non-conducting material such as rubber or the like, and in which casing a switch lever 3, preferably of conducting. material is ivoted at its upper end on a hollow ivot adapted to receive .a pin 8, which 1s passed therethrough to complete the circuit through the spring contact piece 9, said pin being adapted to be removed to break the circuit to prevent the motor from being started until itis returned to position. The lower end of said lever projects out beyond the circumference of the casing and is provided with an operating handle 4 whereby the same may be moved from the center or neutral position, indicated at A, to either side of the centeras indicated at B and C, whereby a connection may be made to either of said sources of current to .operate the sparking device, not shown, through the interrupter 5 and coil 6. Pivotally mounted at 10 to rotate on this switch lever is a ratchet Wheel 11, which is preferably made lof non-conducting material. Secured to opposite sides of this Wheel are two corresponding bridge plates 12 and 13, each being provided with four contact points 1'4-14, said plates being electrically insulated from each other. Located between these points 14 are four contact or bridge pins 15-15 which extend through said ratchet wheel 11 to electrically connect the corresponding points on opposite sides thereof .when said disk is in predetermined positions. This lever 3 is provided with laterally extending resilient contact ears 3a which are slightly concaved or cupped on their engaging faces to receive the heads of the said contact or bridge points and pins 14 and 15 to prevent the same from being inadvertently moved when in their operative position.

The three spring contact fingers 16, 17 and'18 on one side and a corresponding set 19, 20 M151 2l Q Il the opposite side of the switch casing, working in conjunction with the contact points 3" on the switch casing, serve as the wire terminals, which terminals are bridged when the switch lever is in its operative position either by the bridge plates 13 and 14 or by the bridge pins 15-15 to complete the circuit and cause the electric current to pass through the coil and interrupter either in one direction or the other. Each time the switch lever is moved from the center or neutral position to either of the operating positions and back again, the pawl 22, which is pressed into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet by spring 23, causes said ratchet wheel to rotate and change the position of contact points 14 and 15 to reverse the direction of the current through the interrupter. As illustrated in Fig. 7 when the rotary ratchet wheel and its bridge points are in the position illustrated in Fig. 5, the current passes from the battery or other source of current 24 in the direction of the arrow through contact 16, across bridge plate 13, contact 3a, switch lever 3, through the interrupter 5 and coil 6,

wires 25 and 27 around through contact 17, bridge plate 12, contact 18, wire 28 back to battery 24, but when the ratchet disk is rotated by the next stroke of the switch lever the bridge pins 15 are brought into operative position and the current then leaves battery 24 in the direction of the arrow and passes from contact 16 through bridge pin 15 to contact 17, back through wire 27, thence by wire 25 through coil 6 and interrupter 5 in the opposite direction from that illustrated in Fig. v7 back through switch lever 3, contact 3a, bridge pin 15, to contact 18, then by wire 28 back to battery 24. A similar wir- .ing is arranged for t-he other set o fbatteries or magneto, which may be connected by sim` ply throwing the switch lever t-o the opposite side of the center A.

A'rnodifled form of my improved switch is illustrated in Figs. 9 to 18 inclusive, in which the switch is composed of a casing 29 provided with three plug receiving openings 30, 31 and 32, openings 30 and 32 being equivalent to positions B and C in Fig. 1, while opening 31 is the neutral position, equivalent to position A in Fig. 1, in which position the plug may be placed when neither of the batteries are to be connected. This switch is composed of four terminals 33, 34, 35 and 36 for connecting one set of batteries, and terminals 37, 38, 39 and 4Q for connecting up the second set of batteries or magneto. rlhe plug 41, as best illustrated in Figs. 12 and 13, is constructed of insulating material. On one of it-s faces are two transverse bridge plates 42-43 spaced apart a distance corresponding to the terminals in the switch casing.l and are adapted to connect or bridge said terminals inthe manner illustrated in Fig. 17. On thel opposite side of this plug the bridgrgr-ly plates 44 und 45 run lengthwise ot' the block and are adapted when placed with their faces against. the terminals to connect. the same up in the nn'ulncr illustrated in Fig. '18. ln order to facilitate the construction et these bridge plates they are made up in the man` ner illustrated in Fig. 1G, one longitudinal plate 45 and one transverse plate 43 being made up of a single piece ci material, the same being connected together around the edge of the plug by the connecting portion 4G. The wiring of this simplified construction is substantially the same as illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8, the current passing from battery, or otherI source of current, 47 through wire 48, from terminal 33, across bridge 42 to terminal 34 and wire 49 to interruptor 5, coil (5, wire 50, wire 52 to terminal 35 across bridge 43, terminal 36, wire 53, back to the battery, while when the plug 4l is placed with its other face in contact with the terminals t-he circuit starts from the battery 47, wire 48, from terminal 33 across bridge 44 to terminal 35, along wire 52, wire 50 through coil 6, interrupter 5, wire 49 to terminal 34 across bridge 45 to terminal 3G, wire 53 back to battery. It will be seen by reversing this plug or the bring ing of its opposite faces against the terminals that the direction of the current is changed through the interrupter and coil. When it is desired to use the second set of batteries the plug is placed into the socket 30 thus connecting up the terminals 38, 39 and 40 in a similar manner to that above described.

Manually operated switches heretofore employed in controlling electric currents through an interrupter and coil have always allowed the current to pass in one or the same direction through the interrupter points, whereby small particles would leave the positive point of the interrupter causing pitting and cutting out, and forming a cupshaped recess in the end of the positive point .similar to the effect of current passing through the carbon of an arc lamp, the result being that these particles pass with the current and are deposited onto the negative point thus building up this latter point in a rough manner and throwing the whole coil out of adjustment and materially reducing its eiiiciency. By the use of one construc tion of my improved device the direction of travel of the current is automatically reversed each time the motor is started, thus positively insuring an equalization of the deteriorating effect on the points, or by the use of my simplified form of switch plug the reversing of the current may be accomplished as often as desired, causing the points to last practically for an indefinite time with little or no attention, and as they are thus kept in practically perfect condition the coil is caused. to produce its maxinuun e'lliclency.

The device 1s extremely simple and practical in construction and cl'lective in its operation,

[flaring thus described my invention, what by Lets terminals and provided with cont-acts, and

means for automatically shifting said contacts each time said arm is swung, whereby the currentV is reversed through said circuit.

3. A switch of the character described comprising a circuit provided with contact terminals, an arm mounted to swing between said terminals and provided with a rotatable member having contacts, and means for automatically rotating said member as said arm is swung to reverse the direction of current through said circuit.

4. A switch of the character described comprising a circuit provided wit-h Contact terminals, an arm mounted to swing between said terminals, a rotatable member mounted on said arm and provided with contacts, means for automatically rotating said member as said arm is swung, and independent contact plates carried by said rotatable member.

5v A switch of the character described comprising a circuit having contact terminals, an arm mounted to swing between said terminals, a rotatable member mounted on said arm and provided with contact pins eX- tending therethrough, means for automatically rotating 4said member as said arm is swung, and independent Contact plates mounted on said rotatable member.

G. A switch of the character described comprising a circuit provided with contact terminals, an arm mounted to swing between said terminals, a ratchet wheel constructed of insulating material rotatably mounted upon said arm and provided with contact pins, independent contact plates mounted on said rat-Chet wheel, and a stationary tool engaging said ratchet wheel.

7. A switch of the character described comprising an electric circuit provided with cont-act terminals, an arm mounted to swin between said terminals, a member rotatably mounted on said arm and provided with contacts, means for automatically rotating said member as said arm is swung, and stationary contacts carried by said arm, said I disk mounted on said arm, two separate arm being included 1n said circuit, and sets oi' bridging members carried by said means for breaking said circuit.

8. In an electric switch, a plurality of terminals, a switcharm, a rotatable disk mounted on said arm, two distinct sets of bridging members on said disk, means for automatically rotating said disk each time said arm completes a stroke to and from its operating position whereby the connections between the terminals are changed to reverse the direction of the current.

9. In an electric switch, a plurality of terminals, a switch arm, a rotatable ratchet disk, a paw] adapted to engage said ratchet to rotate the same as said arm is moved to coi'nplete its stroke whereby the connections between the terminals are changed to reverse the direction of the current.

In testimony whereof I aHiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN F. CAVANAGH.

litnesses:

HOWARD E. BARLOW, E. I. OGDEN. 

